Resinous composition comprising polyvinyl chloride plasticized with a polycarboxylate



, 2,957,841 Patented Oct. 25, 1960 2,957,841v RESINOUS COMPOSITION COMPRISING POLY- VINYL CHLORIDE PLASTICIZED WITH A POLY- CARBOXYLATE Joachim Dazzi, Dayton, ()hio, assignor to Monsanto Chemical Company, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation" of Delaware No Drawing. Original application Jan. 19, 15953, Ser. No. 332,119, now Patent No. 2,857,409, dated'O'ct'. 21', 1958. Divided and thisapplication' Mar. 24, 19 58; Ser. No. 723,124

Claims. (Cl.26031'.8)

The present invention relates to adducts and more particularly provides new polycarboxylates, methods of: preparing the same by the addition reactionof. certain fumarates with certain esters of acylricinoleic acids, andsvinyl. chloride polymers plasticized with the new polycarboxyl ates.

According to the invention there are providedaddition products having the formula:

onstonmonxooon' H.000 [OHCOOY onzoooY' in which R, R, Y and Y are alkyl radicals of from 1 to 5 carbon atoms, X is a mono-alkenyl radical of 1 0 carbon atoms, and n is an integer of from 1 to 3.

Polycarboxylates having the above: formula may be readily prepared by contacting an acylated ricinoleate having the formula:

in which R and R are as above defined,.with a;dialkyl fumarate of from 6 to 14 carbon atoms;

Useful acylated ricinoleates include-the; methyl, propyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, isobutyl, tert-butyl or. n-amyl estersof such acylated ricinoleic. acids as. 1'2-acetoxy 9.-octa-- decenoic acid, l2-propionyloxy-9-octadecenoic acid, and l2-n-butyryloxy-9-octadecenoic acid. Theiusefuliacylated ricinoleates are known compounds which are. readily: available by reaction of an appropriateallqdtricirroleatev with a suitable acid, acid halide, or acid anhyd'ridei.

Allcyl fumarates which arecondensed with. the above acylated ricinoleates are the simple diesters" such. as methyl, amyl, ethyl, n-propyl or isobutyl fumarate and? the mixed esters such as ethyl isopropyl furnarate, isobutyl' methyl fumarate or ethyl methyl furnarate'.

Reaction of the acylated ricinoleates with thefumarate: is effected by simply heating a mixture oftlie two reactants at temperatures of from, say; 100 C. to 3004 C5, depending upon the nature of the individual reactantsand of the properties desired in the final v product... The reaction is generally eifected at atmospheric pressure, but pressures below atmospheric or above atmospheric. may be used. Condensation catalysts may be employed The reaction results in the addition of from 1 to 3 moles of the fumarate at the alkenyl portion of the ricinoleate. Thus the reaction of a simple dialkyl furnarate such as methyl fumarate with an ester. like methyl acetylricinoleate can yield adducts in which fromlto 3-molesof the fumarate have reacted with the ricinoleate, depending upon the reaction time and the proportion of reactants 7 used:

CH3(OH2)5CH.X.OOOCHa-l-CHaOOQOH OC.OH3 HO.COOCHamocoo [onoooont] cntcooonai;

2 in which n isan integer of from 1 to 3 alkenyl chain of 10 carbon atoms.

The present adducts are stable, high-boiling, clear and substantially colorless products which range from viscous liquids to semi-solid masses. They may be advantaand' X is a monogeously employed for a variety of industrial purposes,

e.g., as lubricant additives, as intermediates for the production of surface-active agents, etc. They are particularly valuable as plasticizers for vinyl chloride polymers, the present esters serving not only to soften vinyl chloride polymers, but also to impart simultaneously a high degree of low temperature flexibility, very good temperature stability and great mechanical strength to these polymers. They are compatible with vinyl chloride polymers and show'no exudation of plasticizer even atpl'asticizer content of up to 50 percent. tity of plasticizer will depend upon the particular polymer to be plasticized and upon its molecular Weight, it is generally found that compositions having from 5 percent by weight of plasticizer Will,.in most cases, be satisfactory for general utility. The good flexibility of the plasticized compositions increases with increasing plasticizer concentration. 7

The present polycarboxylates are valuable plasticizers for polyvinyl chloride and copolymers of at least 70 per cent by Weight of vinyl chloride and up to 30 percent by weight of an unsaturated monomer copolymerizable. therewith, for example, vinyl acetate, vinylidene chloride, etc.

In evaluating plasticizer efiiciency, use is made of the following empirical testing procedures:

Compatibility.Visual inspection of the plasticized composition is employed, incompatibility of the plastiand exudation of the plasticizer.

Hardness.-A standard instrument made by the Shore Instrument and Manufacturing Company is used for this determination and expresses the hardness in units of from 1 to 100. The hardness of a composition is judged by its resistance to the penetration of a standard needle applied to the composition under a length of time.

Low temperature flexibility.Low temperature flexibility is one of the most important properties of elastomeric vinyl compositions. While many plasticizers will produce flexible compositions at room temperature; the flexibility of these compositions at low temperaturesrnay vary considerably, i.e., plasticized polyvinyl chloride compositions that are flexible at room temperatures often become very brittle and useless at low temperatures. Low temperature flexibility'tests herein employed are according to the Clash-Berg method. This method determines the torsional flexibility of a plastic at various temperatures. The temperature at which the vinyl composition exhibits an arbitrarily established minimum. flexibility is defined as the Low Temperature Flexibility of the composition.

tion when caused by volatilization of the plasticizer..

Hence, plasticizers which are readily volatilized from the plasticized composition as a result of aging or heating are inefi'icient because upon volatilization the plasticized. composition becomes stiff and hard. The test for plasticizer volatility herein employed is the carbon absorption,

method ofthe'Society of the Plastics Industry.

Although the quan V clzer with the polymer being demonstrated by cloudinessv standard load for a standard This value may also be defined as: the lower temperature limit of the'plasticized compositions Water resistance.--The amount of water absorption and the amount of leaching that takes place when the plasticized composition is immersed in distilled Water for 24 hours is determined.

- The invention is further illustrated, but not limited, by the following examples:

Example 1 To a flask equipped with a reflux condenser and mechanical stirrer there were placed 116.3 g. (0.3 mole) of butyl acetylricinoleate and 205.2 g. (0.9 mole) of n-butyl fumarate, the mixture was brought to refluxing (260 C.) within 25 minutes and refluxed (252260) for about 3 hours. Fractional distillation of the resulting reaction mixture gave 70.7 g. of a fraction, B.P. l20l85 C./23 mm., n 1.4450, unreacted butyl fumarate; 46 g. of a fraction, B.P. 195-215 C./2 mm., n 1.4526, probably unreacted butyl acetylricinoleate; and 198 g. of residue, 12 1.4647, a light yellow viscous liquid. Based on the recovered reactants, the residue is a 1:3 molar ratio butyl acetylricinoleate-butyl fumarate adduct. It is identified as adduct I in the plasticizer tests of Example 4.

Example 2 A mixture consisting of 69.2 g. (0.2 mole) of methyl acetyl ricinoleate and 137 g. (0.6 mole) of butyl fumarate was heated at 245 -260 C. for 1.5 hours. Distillation of the resulting reaction mixture in a nitrogen atmosphere gave 75.6 g. of a fraction, B.P. 130-140" C./2 mm., 11 1.4452, unreacted butyl fumarate as indicated by the refractive index. There was thus obtained as distillation residue 125.2 g. of an adduct, in which one mole of the methyl acetylricinoleate had combined with an average of about 1.23 moles of butyl fumarate. The residue is identified as adduct II in the plasticizer evaluations of Example 4.

Example 3 A mixture consisting of 132 g. (0.38 mole) of methyl acetylricinoleate and 203 g. (1.14 moles) of ethyl fumarate was heated in a nitrogen atmosphere at 223- 245 C. for about 4.5 hours. Distillation of the resulting reaction product gave the following fractions:

(I) 115 g., B.P. 100-120 c./1 2 mm., 11 1.4400,

ethyl fumarate.

(II) 53 g., B.P. 120-170 C./12 mm., 71 1.4527, a mixture of the furnarate and methyl acetylricinoleate.

(III) 30 g., B.P. 170202 C./12 mm., n 1.4541,

probably methyl acetylricinoleate.

(IV) 72.5 g., B.P. 202-280 C./1-2 mm., n 1.4591, probably a 1:1 molar ratio ethyl fumarate-methyl acetyl ricinoleate adduct.

The residue (46 g.) was a light colored, highly viscous liquid, probably a mixture of adducts in which one mole of methyl acetylricinoleate was combined with from 1 to 3 moles of the ethyl fumarate. Fraction IV is identified as adduct III and the residue as adduct IV in the plasticizer evaluations of Example 4.

Example 4 Respective mixtures consisting of 60 parts by weight of polyvinyl chloride and 40 parts by weight of one of the adducts of Examples 1-3 were respectively milled to a homogeneous blend. During the milling there was observed substantially no fuming and discoloration. Molded sheets of the respective milled blends were clear, transparent and substantially colorless. Testing of the 4 molded sheets by the testing procedures herein described gave the following values:

Hardness Water Low Tem- Vola- Solids absorp- Adduct perature tility, Loss, tlon.

Flexibility, Per- Before After Per- Per- C. cent V01. V01. cent cent Test Test minus 25.3..- 1. 143 80 79 0. 03 0. 56 minus 37.0. 8. 9 77 77 0. 09 0. 60 minus 32.5 5. 9 76 75 0. 18 0. 66 plus 4.4- 0. 68 93 94 0. 02 0. 68

The very good plasticizing action of the present alkyl acetylricinoleate-alkyl fumarate adducts is unexpected, for like testing of methyl and butyl acetylricinoleate showed these esters to be incompatible with polyvinyl chloride.

While the above examples show only compositions in which the ratio of plasticizer to polymer content is 40:60, this ratio being employed in order to get comparable efficiencies, the content of adduct to polyvinyl chloride may be widely varied, depending upon the properties desired in the final product. For many purposes a plasticizer content, of say, from only 10 percent to 20 percent is preferred. The present polycarboxylates are compatible with polyvinyl chloride over wide ranges of concentrations up to 50 percent of esters based on the total weight of the plasticized composition yielding desirable products.

Although the invention has been described particularly with reference to the use of the present adducts as plasticizers for polyvinyl chloride, these polycarboxylates are advantageously employed also as plasticizers for copolymers of vinyl chloride, for example, the copolymers of vinyl chloride with vinyl acetate or vinylidene chloride, etc. Preferably such copolymers have a high vinyl chloride content, i.e., a vinyl chloride content of at least 70 percent by weight of vinyl chloride and up to 30 percent by weight of the copolymerizable monomer.

The plasticized polyvinyl halide compositions of the present invention have good thermal stability; however, for many purposes it may be advantageous to use known stabilizers in the plasticized compositions. Inasmuch as the present adducts are substantially unreactive with the commercially available heat and light stabilizers which are commonly employed with polyvinyl chloride or copolymers thereof, the presence of such materials in the plasticized compositions does not impair the valuable properties of the adducts. The present polycarboxylates are of general utility in softening vinyl chloride polymers. They may be used as the only plasticizing component in a compounded vinyl chloride polymer or they may be used in conjunction with other plasticizers.

This application is a division of my copending application, Serial No. 332,119, filed January 19, 1953, and now U.S. Patent No. 2,857,409, issued October 21, 1958.

What I claim is:

1. A resinous composition comprising polyvinyl chloride plasticized with a polycarboxylate having the formula CHa(CHz)5CH.X.CO O R H.000 [OHCOOY "l CHzCO O Y in which R, R, Y and Y are alkyl radicals of from 1 to 5 carbon atoms, n is an integer of from 1 to 3, X is an acylic hydrocarbon radical of 10 carbon atoms containing a single ethylenically unsaturated double bond as the only unsaturation therein and having a valence of n+2, said polycarboxylate being from 5 to 50% by weight of the composition.

2. A resinous composition comprising a copolymer of at least 70 percent by Weight of vinyl chloride and up to 30 percent by weight of vinyl acetate, said copolymer being plasticized with a polycarboxylate having the formula onawmncnxooon' 3.000 HOOOY CHzOOOY]n in which R, R, Y and Y are alkyl radicals of from 1 to 5 carbon atoms, n is an integer of from 1 to 3, X is an acyclic hydrocarbon radical of 10 carbon atoms containing a single ethylenically unsaturated double bond as the only unsaturation therein and having a valence of n+2, said polycarboxylate being from 5 to 50% by weight of the composition.

3. The resinous composition of claim 1 further defined in that R, Y and Y' is each the butyl radical and R is the methyl radical.

4. The resinous composition of claim 1 further defined in that R and R is each the methyl radical and Y and Y is each the butyl radical.

5. The resinous composition of claim 1 further defined in that R and R' is each the methyl radical and Y and Y' 10 is each the ethyl radical.

No references cited. 

1. A RESINOUS COMPOSITION COMPRISING POLYVINYL CHLORIDE PLASTICIZED WITH A POLYCARBOXYLATE HAVING THE FORMULA 